Indonesia is on a quest to build an end-to-end electric vehicle (EV) industry. The country is rich with nickel, an important raw material for nickel cobalt manganese (NCM)-based EV batteries. It’s a “confident middle-income” country, according to the World Bank, and it’s got a thriving automotive industry that contributes 10% to GDP. All the ingredients for success are there, right?
On paper, perhaps. Looking closer, making the dream a reality has been difficult and risky, not to mention the marginalizing of local communities in the process. Whoever takes the baton from current Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo must realize a few points: things may not go according to plan, and relying on China’s foreign investment alone is not enough.
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